Outlet grills for air conditioners



March 15, 1960 s. L. MADISON OUTLET GRILLS FOR AIR CONDITIONERS s Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 23, 1958 INVENTOR SHANNON L. MADiSON BY Q}, i TTORNEY March 15, 1960 s. L. MADISON 2,928,333

OUTLET GRILLS FOR AIR CONDITIONERS Filed Jan. 25, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR SHANNON L. MADISON A TORNEY March 15, 1960 s. MADISON OUTLET cams FOR AIR CONDITIONERS 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Jan. 23, 1958 INVENTOR SHANNON L. MADISON BY A ORNEY FIG. l2

.nite

This invention relates to room air conditioners and particularly to a louvere'd' air outlet grill for directing the flow of air therefrom. g

In order to get proper Circulation of air in'a' room to be conditioned and proper comfort conditions for the occupants" thereof, it is necessary that the air discharging from a room air conditioner be capable of having its direction of flow varied at' will in order that it may be accommodated to various locations within the room to as conditioned and respond to the individual preferences. While many such devices have been proposed in the past and performed satisfactorily, they all suffered from a common defect in that they were generally cumbersome, diflicult to fabricate and correspondingly expensive.

It is an object of the invention, therefore, to provide, expeditiously and at low cost, a louvered air outlet grill for directing the air flow from a room air conditioner, and which controls both the vertical and horizontal direction of the air. i

It is a further object to provide an apparatus of the above nature, which is sturdy and practical in construction, efficient and dependable in use, of a minimum num ber of parts, and easily and inexpensively fabricated.

These and other objects "ill be in part obvious and in part pointed out below. a

The invention consists of the novel constructions, ar rangements and devices to be hereinafter described and claimed for carrying out the above-stated; objects and such other objects as will appear from the following description of preferred embodiments of the invention described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a perspective of aroom air conditioner embodying a pair of the louvered air outlet grills;

Fig. 2 is a view in perspective of two' such grills;

Fig. 3 is a detail of the air conditioner of Fig; 1 show ing a grill control knob;

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view of mean outlet of the air conditioner and showing the assembled grills and control knobs in operative position therein and taken on the line 4- 4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a plan of the air conditioner shown in Fig. 1 r

with a portion of the cover thereof broken away in order to better show details ofthe outlet grills mounted therein;

Fig. 6 is a view in vertical section showing the method of mounting the outlet grills in assembled relation in the air'conditioner taken on the line 66 of Fig. 5 but in enlarged section;

Fig. 7 is a view taken on the line 7-7 of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a plan and Fig. 9 is a vertical view of an airflow directing louver mounted in its framework and before rotation thereof to its final desired position;

Fig. 10 is a plan and Fig. 11 is a vertical-view of'the louver of Figs. 8 and 9 rotated within its framework to its desired position; and v Fig. 12 is a perspective view of the louver of Figs. 10 and 11.

. Turning now to the drawings and particularly Fig. 1 thereof, a room air conditioner isindic'ated generally at and has an air outlet 21 therein. Air outlet 21 is in part formed in a front wall 22 of the unit and in part formed in a top wall 23 of the unit. I v V v; Air outlet 21is suitably enclosed by a decorative cover indicated generally at 24.

rates Patent 7 the recess 39 of the said frame membersx -L'ouver blank 37' A pair of louvered air outlet grills 31' are rotatably,

mounted within the air conditioner20' for directing the flow of air through air outlet 21'. The grills 31 are identical and interchangeable within the air conditioner. Each grill includes a pair of frame members 32 and. 33 maintained in the proper spaced relationship by a pair of supporting members 34 and 35. Support members 34 and I I 35 each includes two semi-circular recesses 36 and two slightly larger recesses 36'. As can clearly be seen in Fig. 2, a plurality of air flow directing louvers 37 are mounted between respective frame members 32 and 33.

As was pointed out above, and in order to save costs,

each air outlet grill is identical, there being no left-hand or right-hand members, as might be expected. Each grill has on the support member 34 thereof .a male lug 38 and on the other support member 35 thereof a female lug receiving recess 39. .Means for rotating the grills are provided and take the form of controlknobs 40 for receiving one end of a grill for rotating each individually. Control knobs 40 comprise a wheel-like element. 41 having a series of beads 42 formed thereon in order to facilitate handling. Wheel-like element 41 has a. bearing 43 formed on the outer surface thereof and terminates in a lug 44. Internally, the wheel-like element 41 is provided with a bore 45, which bore is designed to receive the lug 38 of a grill 31.. The inner surface of wheel-like element 41 is further provided with two outstanding pins 46, adapted to be reccivedin thesemi-circular recesses 36 formed in supporting members 34 and 35, and two outstanding pins 46 adapted to be received in the semicircular recesses 36'." a

It will be apparent that in assembling two louvered air outlet grills 31, since the lug 38 of one is received in other, as seen in Fig. 6, the free ends thereof include on one side a lug 38 and on the other side a recess 39. In assembling the control knobs 40 withthe assembled grills 31, again with references to Fig. 6, it will be seen that a bore 45 of a knob 40 receives a lug 38 while on the otherend thereof a bore 45 is opposed by a recess 39 which, of course, ofifers no impediment to the placing of the control knob 40 thereon, thereby permitting the grills to be interchangeable. The method of properly mounting each louver between its frame members will be more clearly described with reference to Figs. 8-11. As can clearly be seen in Figs. 8 Land 9, a louver blank 37 is first obliquely mounted with respect to frame members 32'and 33, hereinafter defined as being in an oblique plane with respect to is then canted, or rotated from its position shown in Figs. 8 and 9 to a position wherein the trace of said louveron said frame members with respect to the intersected edges thereof form an oblique angle, as shown at B in Fig. 10, hereinafter defined as being in a canted plane with respect to said frame members. fiection (both horizontal and vertical) of air flow when the grill is in a vertical position, as'seen in Fig. 11;

After the louver blank 37 has been canted or rotated to its desired position, as shown in Figs. 10 and 11,. it is apparent that in order to be properly fitted between frame members 32 and 33 it must be cut to take the form of'a parallelogram, as shown in Fig. 12. As can be seen in Fig. 12, the edges of the louver blank 37 are then properly beveled in order that they may lie in horizontal and verticalplanes in the canted position of the louvers themselves to form the finished louver 37.

This provides the desired de- 7 the inclination of a louver 37 from the horizontal. The

angle B as shown in Fig. is a measure of the canting or rotation of -a louver 31 and decreases as the louver rotated with the angle of cant correspondingly increasmg. a It has been found empirically that the desired angle A should be on the order of 30. 'It has been determined empirically that the angle B should be on the order of 45. 'Ihis combination has .been found to give the best horizontal'and vertical control of the air flow with the minimum pressure drop through the grill 31 due to the canting of the louvers. I w

The width w of a louver 37 must be found empirically and is dependent on (1) the velocity of the air discharging from the outlet 21 of air conditioner 20, (2) the total number of louvers, and (3) the angle of cant. The higher thevelocity is, the greater the .width w must be in order to change the direction offlow; As the number of louvers increases, the: width w may decrease to give the desired changein direction of flow; however, it must be borne in mind that as the number of louvers increases,

the pressure drop through the grill correspondingly increases. It will also be apparent that the greater is the angle of cant (the supplement of angle Bi? as seen in Fig. 10), the greater must be the width w in order to change the direction of flow. I

: As many louvers aslhas been found desirable are mounted between frame members 32 and 33. As can be seen in Fig. 2, it may be oftentimes necessary to mount a louver between a frame member 32 or. 33 and its corresponding support member 34 or 35 in order to maintam the desired spacing between'louvers. However, in referring to a louver. being mountedbetween frame members,.the term is considered to be all-encompassing and including the mounting of a louver between a frame mem ber andacorresponding support member.

r In assembling the grills in air condltloner 20, one grill 31 has a controlknob 40 mounted. thereon, as seen in the right hand portion of Fig. 6. The control knob 40 is mounted on a support member 35 having recess 39 therein and pins, 46 are received within semi-circular'recesses 36, while pins 46'. are received within recesses 36, to maintain knob and grill in.proper assembled relation.

thereof directs the air upwardly and to the right (assuming this initial horizontal deflection), horizontally and to the right and downwardly and to the right; upwardly and to the left (in the opposite direction to the initial horizontal deflection), horizontally and to the left and finally downwardly and tothe left during the course of its rotation.

Canting thejlouvers 37 from the position shown in 'Fig. 9 to the position shown in Fig. 11 serves two functions; The average person will position the grill 31 in its vertical position, as seen in Fig. 1l,and letit remain there. Inthis position, if the louvers. were not canted as shown in Fig. 11 butleft instead as shown in Fig. 9,'then it can be seen that the air woulddi'scharge straight out through the grill, there being neither a horizontal nor a vertical deflection. Canting the louvers 37, however. gives a desired vertical and horizontal deflection to the air'passing'through the" grill 31 when the grill is in its normal vertical position (as seen in Fig. 11). .Further, with the louver left uncanted, in order to get a desired. deflection of air comparable'to the deflection obtainable from the canted louver, it would be necessary to rotate the grill to where it would approach the position shown in Fig; 8 or, in other words, a 90 rotation. Itis, of course, ap-

parent that the more closely the. grill approaches the Fig.

8 position, the greater is the blockage of air by frame members 32- and 33, with the greatest blockage occurring when the grill is in the Fig. 8 position. V

. It will be apparent that I have provided; a grill that is of extreme simplicity, of a minimum number of parts,

adapted for mass production at an extremely low cost, and

. may be so limited, as it will be apparentto-those skilled The grill supports 27 and 29 are then flexed sufficiently to permit the insertion of the assembled grill and knob with lug 44 ofknob 40 being received in aperture 28 of grill support 27 and lug38 of grill 31 being received in aperture 30 of grill support 29. Similarly, a knob 40 is assembled with a grill 31, as shown in the left hand portion of Fig.6 with pins 46 and 46' being received in recesses 36 and 36,respectively. However, in this instance, the knob 40 is mounted ona support member 34 including a lug 38, with lug 38 being received within bore 45 of knob 40. Grill support 25 is then sufliciently flexed to allow the insertion of the assembledknob and grill between it and .grill support 29 with the lug 44 of knob 40 being received in aperture 26 of grill support 25 and recess 39 receiving the lug 38 of the previously inserted grill 31. The purpose of having pins 46 and corresponding re- .cesses 36 differ in size from pins 46 and corresponding recesses 36' is that the control knobs 40 may be mounted .on the grills in only one position so that the indicia printed on the control knobs (as'seen in Fig. 3) may be properly oriented with respect to the g lls. It will be further noted that-the control knobsare interchangeable, at least until such time as the indicia is printed thereon.

Turning now to Fig. 2, an inspection of the right-hand grill 31 reveals that it is in position to direct the air upwardly and to the left. The left-hand grill has been rotated approximately- 180 from the position of the right-hand grill and in a position to direct the air upwardly and to the right. It will be apparent that anyone in the art that changes may be made without departing from the principles of the invention. 7

What is claimed is: 1 V

1.- In a room air conditioner having an outletfor conditioned air, anair outlet grill for directing the'flow of said conditioned air comprising, a pair offrame, members,

a pair of support. members for maintainingsaid. frame.

members in an assembled, spaced-apart, parallel relationship and a plurality of louvers obliquely mounted in parallel between said frame members,and rotated into canted planes with respect to the planes of said frame members; means forlmountingsaid grill in the outlet of aroom airhconditione'ryand a control member for rotating and determining the position of said grill for providing multiple flow paths for said conditioned. airldependent on the positioning of said control member.

2. An air outlet grill for directing the flow. of air through an air outlet of a room air conditioner comprising, a pair of frame members; a pair of supporting members attached to said frame members for maintaining said frame members in assembled, super-imposed, spacedapart, parallel relation; anda plurality of louvers obliquely mounted in parallel planes between said frame members and rotated into canted planes with respect to said frame -members. a 1

3. The grill of claim 2 including,- means for mounting said grill-within the air outlet of a room air conditioner; and means for rotating said grill whereby ajmultiple selection of air flow paths is available upon the rotation of said grill. V e A References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES, PATENTS y 1 

